For the other perspective, there are people who don't have good experiences with hormones. Given my past experiences with hormonal birth control, and my own symptoms, I decided not to do HRT. My initial symptoms were insomnia, night sweats, insulin resistance, weight gain, thickening middle and brain fog (extreme - to the point I thought I might have early onset dementia). I radically changed my diet/eating, went Whole30 to understand my inflammatory triggers, did intermittent fasting and low carbs (no grains for me). This dramatically reduced my symptoms. Time and some acupuncture helped some too. After about two years I never have night sweats, rarely have insomnia, almost never have hot flashes, have all my hair, and my body appearances is similar to before the onset of symptoms (so I fit into all my old clothes). I still have a sex life, but now need to have lubrication. That's about it. I firmly believe that people have radically different experiences, and I would never rule out HRT for someone else (my sister is on it, and likes it).

I also told my doctor that intend to take HRT until my death. I have a BRCA mutation and did the surgical menopause surgery first, before mastectomy. It was awful. But after a couple years of experimenting, I concluded that the HRT that makes me feel the best is all of it, a lot of it. I take E, P, and T. It gives me energy, keeps me feeling optimistic, helps me sleep and makes my skin look good. Turns out you can apply estrogen cream/gel to your face and it makes it look amazing within a week!

Maaaaaayyyybe I’ll reduce my doses someday, as I age. But I have no breast cancer risk anymore, and there doesn’t seem to be a reason to stop, ever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

What the heck is second menopause!?
Why does no one tell us about these things.

It isn’t really a second menopause, which is the moment you have gone 12 consecutive months without menses.

It’s a return of the symptoms of peri/post menopause which cause diminished quality of life as poster describes. The thing is that for some women those symptoms carry on for decades after menopause - I work in elder care and have worked with women in their 80s who still have hot flashes for instance.

Again, the subject of long term HRT is a matter of debate in the medical community. The current advice is to take it for as short a time as absolutely necessary, but for some women that would be a very long time.

I was very well informed about the risks of HRT before asking for it, and still my GYN talked with me for over an hour before he prescribed it. I told him that I would accept a risk 10x higher since by that point the effects of nearly a decade of night sweats and chronic insomnia had left me stuck in clinical depression and with a body that felt 81, not 51. Two years later I feel my age and better every day because I’m losing weight and getting my fitness back with great sleeping patterns and all the other benefits that flow from that. My attitude at this point is that they can take my HRT from my cold dead hands and not before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

What the heck is second menopause!?
Why does no one tell us about these things.

I think she’s just saying that when she stopped the estrogen it was like going through menopause all over again.

Anonymous wrote:I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

What the heck is second menopause!?
Why does no one tell us about these things.

Anonymous wrote:I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

Why did you have to stop, did you experience some health issues or did your doctor refuse to continue prescribing?

There is debate on this issue in the medical community with some doctors adamant that treatment should stop and others coming around to the position that women should be free to choose the elevated risks if they wish to maintain quality of life.

I just started HRT two years ago at 51, a few years into menopause which happened early for me because of an ovary removal and part of the other at 40. My life was miserable for nearly a decade before I went on HRT and I cannot even imagine going through it all again.

I was 58, postmenopausal, horrible hot flashes, mood swings, worried about sex because it eas starting to hurt. Testosterone cream made me horny and crazy but didn't fix my main problems.
Low dose estrogen patch felt like warm syrup flowing over my nerves. Used Menostar and topical Vagifem estrogen tabs 2x week from age 60 to 71. It was bliss I only recognize in retrospect. No flashes, no skin or vaginal fragility, looked 60 for 11 years.
Had to stop in 2021. Second menopause was a shock. Hot flashes. Vaginal atrophy. I am my age now. Ugh.
Go low dose.

Anonymous wrote:PP^^^ Who did you go to for the testosterone? I’m on HRT but no testosterone. I would love to get my libido back. I’m 55. Right now sex is a chore and I would love to go back to desiring and enjoying it again.

I asked to have all of my hormones tested and when I went to a standard gyn (no one I would see again for other reasons) and when my numbers were all non existent she prescribed it. My libido is fabulous. Im 62.

I’ve only been on it for two weeks but it has already significantly decreased my hot flashes which had become unbearable.

I’m super chill. No mood swings like with PMS.

PP^^^ Who did you go to for the testosterone? I’m on HRT but no testosterone. I would love to get my libido back. I’m 55. Right now sex is a chore and I would love to go back to desiring and enjoying it again.

Anonymous wrote:Any pros and cons you experienced?

Yes! I feel like myself again. I was irritable, depressed, anxious, had dry vagina, no libido, hot spells and brain fog and memory issues so bad I believed I had dementia. I was diminished and didn’t feel like myself to the point of hopelessness and despair. My doctor tried putting me on an ssri and I refused after gaining 30 lbs in 9 months on Lexapro and weaning myself off.

I use an estrogen patch, take 100 mg of progesterone daily, use estridol internally and use a testosterone cream. I feel like me again mostly. I don’t need an anti depressant that’s for sure! I’m 60 and post menopausal. No cons for me.

I was wondering too.

There are tons of recent threads about this on the health/medicine board...

Yes, I do it and yes it has been a game changer. I am no longer experiencing extreme PMS.

Any pros and cons you experienced?